Courageous
by KeepMovingForward
Summary: Six muggles...six wizards...two wars...one day. A look at how the twelve victums spent their last moments before entering the war, along with a look at their emotions and thoughts. Meant to be inspiring. Inspired by the song Courageous by Casting Crowns.


**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, or the song Courageous by the Casting Crowns.**

_We were made to be courageousWe were made to lead the wayWe could be the generationThat finally breaks the chainsWe were made to be courageousWe were made to be courageous_

Hermione stood looking in the mirror carefully. She examined her face, and then drew her wand carefully. The castle had had an uneasy feeling since they had arrived, and today it was at its peak. She looks around her room, taking in every detail as she prepares. She has the strangest feeling that she may not ever see this room again, and the thought breaks her heart.

The only sound in the corridor is the pitter patter of feet as everyone makes their way into the great hall, preparing for a battle they know all too well is coming. No one knows that Harry's there too, though they do know of Hermione. She slips unnoticed into a seat at the Gryffindor table, just a face in the crowd for the moment, and for once she's grateful for it.

No one speaks throughout the morning, and the tension is met with unnerving glances between friends and houses. Sides are being chosen silently, and Hermione can only hope that they all have enough sense to fight through it all.

_We were warriors on the front linesStanding, unafraidBut now we're watchers on the sidelinesWhile our families slip away_

That very same morning, of the very same day, of the very same year a muggle girl stands in front of her own mirror, though she is a few years older. Three months have passed and she's graduated from college, she'd joined the Air Force afterwards and now prepares to be deployed. She ties her hair up quietly, before adjusting her uniform. Her face betrays no emotion, though inside she is fighting her own battle. She feels things she has never before, but most of all contempt with the decision she has made.

Her mother walks into the room and sits quietly on the edge of the bed, watching her oldest daughter finally fly away. She's known that this moment has been coming for years now, but she never expected it so soon. Tears are streaming down her face, and she feels like her daughter does, a fountain of emotions. Yet the largest one is pride, along with hope.

When the girl is finally prepared her mother takes her to the hanger, where she boards the helicopter that will take her away. Their goodbye is a truly beautiful moment, neither know if they will ever see the other again, they're only hope is to pray to God that she stays safe. When the helicopter finally takes off, the girls feels a fleeting moment of fear. But she stays strong for those who need her, because that is just who she is.

_Where are you, men of courage?You were made for so much moreLet the pounding of our hearts cryWe will serve the Lord_

Alone, in the cover of darkness, Harry prepares for battle. He feels the stone in his hand, and wraps his fingers around it protectively. He opens his eyes to find all those he has lost before him, as one they murmur words of encouragement and hope. The only emotion that betrays him is his fear, which courses through his veins causing him to shake uncontrollably. He mulls over everything that has happened to him in the last year, and some that happened before him. He wishes that he didn't have to carry such a fate, that for once he could just be a child. But that couldn't happen, could it? The world just seemed to have other plans, and they never even asked for his opinion on them.

He watches as each person fades in turn, and after the last one disappears he hears one swift and quiet 'goodbye' before the wind takes the voice away forever. He tosses the stone into the air and catches it before looking at it closely. Then, he glances up to see the perfectly smooth surface of the lake. Without giving it another thought he skips the stone across the surface, watching it sink into the darkness.

_We were made to be courageousAnd we're taking back the fightWe were made to be courageousAnd it starts with us tonight_

A young boy in those same moments prepares for his own battle, he too does not speak. It's better for him that way. Talking always leads to the same subject, and no matter how hard his parents try they cannot convince him otherwise, for once he sets his mind it stays that way. It takes him less time than he expected to get ready, and the worst thing possible occurs, he has time to think. He's a bright person, but thinking only leads him down a dark path of fear, and that is one feeling he doesn't like to come into contact with. He looks back on the simpler times, though he can barely remember those because the war has been raging for a while now. A few of the carefree moments come back, sitting around the table with friends he could never forget about, and he wonders where they are now. He knows that the guys were most likely drafted like him, though he had planned on joining the military anyways.

He knows that one of the girls is probably a nurse by now, the last he'd heard was that she was joining the Air Force. Another one he knew was a teacher, most likely educating the students on the war, and the third one he had no idea about. She'd wanted to be a nurse but he'd never heard if she'd followed through or not. He realized regretfully that he'd never gotten to say goodbye, and he didn't want to know what would happen if he didn't before he died. He quickly grabbed his phone and began to dial…

_The only way we'll ever standIs on our knees with lifted handsMake us courageousLord, make us courageous_

Ronald Weasly walks along the school grounds, kicking around a stay rock as he goes. For once he finds that he cannot eat, though he's hungry as ever. He'd finally realized the weight of it all, and it's killing him. He wonders how he got into the situation and he wonders how he'll get out. The only thing that is clear to him is that he'll fight besides his two best friends and he'll kick some ass with them or die with them, but whichever happens he'll do it with honor and dignity.

He looks up to the sky to find his own mood reflected down at him. It's gray and cloudy with the promise of rain.

_This is our resolutionOur answer to the callWe will love our wives and childrenWe refuse to let them fallWe will reignite the passionThat we buried deep insideMay the watchers become warriorsLet the men of God arise_

Another muggle prepares for battle too. His own expression is quite similar. He was drafted into the military only a little while before and was now dealing with deployment. Every day he feels dead, limp, and lifeless. His only motivation the fact that he wants so badly to get back to the people he loves so dearly. His days and nights are haunted with images of them and of what could have been his glory days in football. But all that was stolen right out from under him when he'd been drafted. It'd been a lot worse than he'd expected, and the war horrors he'd seen already had scared him for eternity. He was going to fight through it though, at least he was praying to God that he would. He lived in the constant fear that he'd be the next one to fall, and it seemed to be slowly driving him to the brink of insanity on the inside, though on the outside he was as emotionless as ever, only doing his duty and nothing more.

_We were made to be courageousAnd we're taking back the fightWe were made to be courageousAnd it starts with us tonight_

Draco Malfoy sits in the Great Hall, watching the nervous stares that are getting sent his way. If only they knew what he was going through, it only they knew that it wasn't his decision, that he didn't want this. But they didn't and they would never find out. His face was a mask, expressionless as ever. Guarding the pain he feels both inside and out. The Dark Mark squirms on his arm, forever imprinted as a symbol of his mistakes. He knows they expect him to come join them, but he cannot because there are to many suspicious students keeping watchful eyes on him. He knows that they could end up landing him in deep trouble, but for once he doesn't care. For once he's just like the rest of them, just a kid who's scared as hell. Yet, the knowledge does little to comfort him.

_The only way we'll ever standIs on our knees with lifted handsMake us courageousLord, make us courageous_

A young women who too is just out of college sits at her desk. It's early on a Monday morning and most of her students haven't arrived yet. The TV in her classroom is flipped on to their news station and she carelessly listens to it while she rewrites her lessons plans. She wants to talk about the war today, because for some strange reason she feels the need to. Three of the people she is closest to just joined in, and she wants the students to understand what they're going through. The news station begins to tell an update on the subject, and she glances up briefly only to become more depressed. More troops were killed last night and she only prays to God it wasn't anyone she knows. On the corner of her desk is a letter from her best friend, who was a nurse who just got deployed. She picks it up and rereads it for the third time that day, it talks about some horrors, but it also talks about so things that give her some hope, which is really what she needs. Which is really what they all need.

She looks around her classroom again, some of her students parents were even deployed. She could also tell that from the quietly shed tears and the glum expressions more were being deployed. She understood what they were going through though, it was hard on them all.

_Seek justiceLove mercyWalk humbly with your GodIn the war of the mindI will make my standIn the battle of the heartAnd the battle of the hand_

Even though she knows the war is going to break out today, Pansy still spends a ton of time getting ready. She wants to look her best if she dies. Stupid she knows, but it makes her feel better to pretend it's not real. She fears for her life, and she's never felt more confused. She's not really sure which side she's on, and it's a new feeling for her because she usually is way too sure of herself. She ponders on everything quietly while her dorm mates get ready, not bothering to take as much time as usual.

_In the war of the mindI will make my standIn the battle of the heartAnd the battle of the hand_

Another young muggle girl is preparing for her own day. She's concerned about the war too, knowing that four of her friends are charging right into it headfirst. She moves around the hospital quickly and quietly, trying not to disturb any patients. Almost every room she passes has the TV on with an update of the war on it, and it's beginning to get to her. In fact, the only thing that conversation has been around lately is the war. Most her patients ask her if she's heard anything else, or on her thoughts about it, and she responds truthfully even if it pains her. She watches as the doctors skitter around looking nervous and shouting orders. The have had a few patients coming in from the military hospitals because they were overflowing with patients. Finally breaking out of her train of thought she realizes someone was calling for her.

She follows the charging doctor down the hallway into a room where many doctors stand over a person she knows all too well. She realizes her jaw was hanging open and closes it quickly before rushing to help her old friend.

_We were made to be courageousAnd we're taking back the fightWe were made to be courageousAnd it starts with us tonight_

Blaise Zabini wasn't around when the First Wizarding War took place, but he'd heard more than he'd ever wanted to about it. Now, he wished he wouldn't be around for the second one. He felt so lost. His parents where Death Eaters and he knew he was expected to follow, though he only wished he for once that he could make his own decision. He'd watched his best friend take the Dark Mark and it looked beyond horrible. He wondered why his father had done it, though he hoped that it was more out of fear than anything else.

Trying to calm his uneasy feeling, he finally resorted to staring out his fogged up window blankly, trying to keep a calm demeanor. He watched for any sign of infiltration of the castle, though none seemed to come.

_The only way we'll ever standIs on our knees with lifted handsMake us courageousLord, make us courageous_

A young boy who had just been drafted lie barely breathing surrounded by doctors and nurses. He could barely remember what had happened, one minute he was fighting and the next he was one the ground. What happened after that was only a blur, and he hoped it was a good thing he didn't remember.

After he'd awoken a familiar nurse came in to help him. She'd propped him up with pillows into a sitting position before sitting down across from him and asking questions while scribbling down answers on her clipboard. She'd tried to make small talk afterwards, but failed since he wasn't in the mood. She left quickly and silently and he almost missed her presence.

A few days later and he was still having phantom pains because they'd had to amputate from his knee down. He was grateful to be alive because he knew he could have been a lot worse off. The old version of him would him been mad he wouldn't be able to play soccer anymore, though the new version was grateful that the bullet hadn't claimed his life along with his limb.

_We were made to be courageousLord, make us courageous_

It was an odd day that year. It was a day when six muggles and six wizards seemed to come together without knowing it. Neither was aware of the others issues, neither was aware of the fact that the other existed (maybe that one was a little one sided), neither was aware that the other was fighting a war. But fate had intertwined their destinies, and they were sure to come across another situation similar to their predicament one day. The only hope was that they would come across it together, almost as if they were in harmony. But even what seemed like such a small step was a lot to hope for. Why those twelve's paths crossed is unknown, and another similarities or leads connecting the two wars were also unknown, but it was certainly a story waiting to be told. Those twelve, so different and yet so similar were born to be more than just people.

_They were made to be courageous. _


End file.
